LOGARTA
Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, Jr. has been a known nationalist. In relation to this he has been an effective advocate of democratized access to education.
The University of the Philippines had been criticized as elitist; they said that the university parking lot was full of private cars. Statistics revealed that most of those admitted to the university were from private high schools.
Through high schools within the UP System Dr. Nemenzo sought to actualize democratization within the university.
He proposed a way by which more graduates from public schools would enter UP; at the same the high schools of the system would become a relevant part of the UP System.
Since the Angara law students could enter high schools free, pupils from the public schools, pupils from low income groups were those to be recruited to UP High School.
This created a very challenging admissions process.
Although this met with some opposition with previous alumni whose children could not be admitted, they continue to support the high school through grants-in-aid as well all kinds of emergency assistance.
In UP High School we had a listing of the public schools.
The faculty and staff volunteered for the various public elementary schools.
I remember visiting Bacayan Elementary School and also going to Binaliw in what is now called “habal-habal”.
Both of these are in Cebu’s hills.
By this time loyalty for the system had already developed within me.
So it was with great enthusiasm that I discussed the various parts of the system: UP Baguio, UP Los Baños, UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP in the Visayas, UP Cebu, later UP Mindanao.
I discussed these in relation to their inclination, their dreams.
We came with admission forms for their participation in the entrance examination.
Admission required belonging to the low income sectors of the community.
Such a requirement resulted in added phases to the admission process. Visits to the applicants’ homes and other forms of counter checking to verify income declaration had to be done.
The high school curriculum was also modified to suit the needs of those from public elementary schools.
More time was allotted to the tool subjects (communication and mathematics) and science.
Investigative projects, research projects became an important part of the curriculum.
Teachers of first year high school level, especially the advisers had to provide the young entrants with an orientation on the UP System, the special high school program, and admission to the university.
Admission to the University of the Philippines meant they have to be excellent achievers from the very beginning of high school because their grades would be part of computation for their entry.
Besides, they would be competing with thousands of students from all over the country.
In my advisory class I took extra effort to give rise to democratic leadership through the homeroom organization at that time, putting systems that would instill a sense of accountability.
Implementation of the Nemenzo proposal brought us face to face with children of cleaners, taxi drivers and farmers.
A student’s parent even came to school now and then to bring produce for sale. One student, unfortunately, was ashamed to recognize her parent who was working with us.
The solo parent of one of our most brilliant students cleaned our restrooms without any trace of shame.
Nemenzo’s proposal included an important mission for the UP High School faculty.
They were to design and demonstrate teaching methods that were to be shared with other public high schools so that more graduates of public high schools would actually enter the UP System.
Such continues to be a challenge for the UP High School faculty.
Over the years the percentage of UP High School students who entered the UP system increased.
Several students even topped the graduates in their college. Michaelangelo Joaquin (son of a parking aide) was one of these.
Mark Mariñas whose mother helped us keep our restrooms clean became an oblation scholar, meaning he was among the top 40 of all thousands who took the UP College Admission Test.
He could then qualify for the seven year medical course in UP Manila.
He is now a surgeon in Zamboanga where he feels he is more needed.
Looking back it feels really good to have been part of Francisco Nemenzo, Jr.’s inclusion proposal.